Cut Biden's $3.5 trillion plan: Don't make the perfect the enemy of America and its kids

"The next few days will be a time of intensity," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said over the weekend. History will judge whether Democrats in Congress are up to the challenge.

With control of Congress by razor-thin margins, the party has a chance to implement sweeping historical changes to help save the climate, greatly reduce child poverty, and improve the lives of lower-income and middle-class Americans. They must not let this opportunity slip away by quarreling over too many initiatives that cost too many trillions of dollars.

With every Democratic vote in the Senate and nearly every one in the House a prerequisite for passing the largest spending bill in history, a handful of moderates have made clear they will not vote for anything costing $3.5 trillion over a decade (the proposal is so chockful of ideas, it has come to be known only by its price tag).

It's so much money that even with a welter of tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy, the legislation could still add to the national debt. 

Time for 'human infrastructure' is now

Next year will be an election season when daring initiatives are rarely achieved, and after that the Democrats may lose one or both chambers of Congress to Republicans (who remain in perennial opposition to fighting climate change or spending more money on what President Joe Biden refers to as "human infrastructure").

The time for bold action is now. And whether it happens boils down to this: Will progressives (and Biden, for that matter) make their demand for the perfect become the enemy of the good to the point that they lose, through a lack of consensus, this opportunity they've been granted? 

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There's tremendous good in even a pared down version of Biden's Build Back Better bag of initiatives. Pelosi seemed to acknowledge as much Sunday.

"Obviously with negotiation, there has to be some changes in that ($3.5 trillion figure) the sooner the better, so that we can build our consensus to go forward," the House speaker said.

Climate change, America's children

So what should the priorities be? We propose that the final package focus on the future of America and its children:

►The future. Biden's environmental initiatives could be the last, best chance for corrective measures that the United States – and the world – could prevent catastrophic climate changes. Greenhouse gases are reaching the highest levels in recorded history. Ravaging rains, hurricanes, fires and drought are only the beginning.

Children today will live through three times the natural disasters endured by their grandparents, according to research published this week.

Biden's plan would dramatically slash U.S. emissions. His clean electricity plan would use incentives and fees to compel power companies into transitioning to renewable energy. Coupled with tax credits for solar and wind power and funding for rural electric cooperatives, the plan would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector by a billion tons per year, or 73% in 2030, according to a recent Rhodium Group analysis.

Internal-combustion engine vehicles generate the largest share of global warming gases, and weaning Americans off of them would be nothing short of transformative.

Biden's Build Back Better plan (along with elements of the bipartisan infrastructure bill pending in the House) would work to achieve this with tax credits of up to $12,500 toward the purchase of an electric vehicle.  Billions of dollars also would be invested in building electric charging stations.

►The children. Child poverty dropped by 25% after Congress passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan in March. Plans under Build Back Better legislation to extend the tax cuts would slash that rate by 40%, with major gains for Black and Latino families. Parents used the money to pay down debt, build up savings and pay for necessities.

Another vitally important element would provide universal preschool, which research has shown delivers dramatic results in preparing children with language and social skills. The package also would significantly improve the quality and pay of child care providers, with assistance to make high-quality child care affordable for low-income families. The United States lags the world in both categories.

To be sure, Biden has proposed in this 10-year package so many other programs and so much more spending. The legislation also would expand Obamacare ($200 billion), affordable housing ($318 billion) and Medicare ($550 billion). And it would create free community college ($109 billion).

Democrats could fight over all of it and pass nothing. Or they could act with discretion and still achieve several of the most important social changes in half a century.

We urge discretion.